Oh yes, those two are awesome as well. They profit even more from the great videos that go with the songs. I didn't know you could make Weird Al's Hardware Store even better, but of course someone did just that. Friendship was magic get's an honorable mention here. Although I'm still looking for any Spike/Spike or Jet/Winona jokes.

I saw it the other day (I will admit to watching a camrip I stumbled across online). It wasn't outstanding and it wasn't horrible. Probably would have made a half-decent two-parter (or three-parter more likely) in the series. I have to admit having more interest in Twilight's struggle with getting used to her wings than most other parts of the show.

I'm still waiting for a high-quality version. I'm not too picky about quality (I watched the 360p leak of Wonderbolts Academy), but a shaky camera and messed up color balance are not things I'm willing to sit through for over an hour. I think I'll be waiting another month or more.

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

I admit to watching a camrip version (if only because Brazil doesn't get the Hub and probably won't get the DVD or the movie on cinemas).

It's pretty much the first 2 episodes of season 1 retold with humans, tack on some self-referential fun and it was actually pretty good.The only thing I didn't like that much was the romance thing with Twilight, but I guess that was a requirement to make it to the movies.

Jay911 wrote:I saw it the other day (I will admit to watching a camrip I stumbled across online). It wasn't outstanding and it wasn't horrible. Probably would have made a half-decent two-parter (or three-parter more likely) in the series. I have to admit having more interest in Twilight's struggle with getting used to her wings than most other parts of the show.

Pretty much this. I found it decent enough and even if the movie had been utterly bad, I still don't get all the rage over it. If something in [favorite fandom] doesn't appease all of the fans, the appropiate response is "meh" instead of "omgthisistheendthistotallysucks!!!"

The romance didn't bother me all that much (probably because it was as bland as oatmeal made with water), but the villain's motivation did. They couldn't have her being just mean and petty, oh no, they had to tack on some Evil Overlord template as well.

So, has anyone read "Fallout: Equestria"? Is this one of those fanfics that start out slow, but pick up speed afterwards? I started reading it, but stopped after a few chapters. It's not bad, but not really gripping either.

Oh, and to make this post is less empty and because I just f*ing love making lists, here's an updated list of 'stuff that I've read'. A warning: Those are not recommendations, just an enumeration I keep for whatever reason.

Spoiler:

[Bipedal Hairless Apes]

The Kindness of Strangers

The Tale of Gaius Ninefingers

Journes to My Imagination

Written in Dust

Retired to Equestria

[Silly]

Friendship is Dragons

How Many Princesses Does It Take to Change A Light Bulb?

There's a Gamer in All of Us

Ponytics

Luna, there's a sentient race inside your mane

Princess Celestia hates tea

Number Three Assistant

Twilight Discovers Literary Analysis

Luna's Excellent Adventure

Nosflutteratu

Princess Textlestia

Regarding The Need for Sex Education

The B.I.G comes to town

The Brony Guard Unlimited

[Friendship is Optimal]

Friendship is Optimal

Ad-adsurdum

Voyages of a Shardship

The Loner

The Elements of Truth

Spiraling Upwards

Twilight of the World

The Last Optimization

Fog of World

Yggdrasil

A Watchful Eye

Psychopathy is Configurable

Fifteen Galaxies out

More Information

The Law Offices of Artemis, Stella & Beat

Caelum Est Conterrens

No Exit

Optimism Pending

[Chess Game of the Gods]

For The Swarm

Myou've gotta be kidding me

[Otter]

A Brief History of Equestria

Accidentally

In Her Majestys royal service

White Box

Why does Applejack cry?

Hard Reset

350

Can't choose your family

Friends forever

A stitch in Time

Reflections

The next level of your studies

I forgot I Was There

Last One Standing

Mortal

Statistics

The Best Night Ever

This Platinum Crown

[Crossover]

Better Living Through Science and Ponies

Bleach: The Equestria Arc

Endgame

The Night the Magid Died

Halo - On the wings of angels

Wrong Hospital, Nico Bellic

League of Discord

Mass Effect - The Equestria Equation

Mass Effect - Shades of Twilight

Mythbuckers

For Queen and Country

The unicorn at Hogwarts

My Little Fortress: Friendship for the Blood God

Stargate Equestria

The Redemption of Jericho Swain

Timelords and Terror

World of Ponycraft

[Things I've stopped reading]

Griffin the Griffin

The Wizard and the lonely Princess

Not the Afterlife I Signed Up For

Past Sins

The Order of Koaxia

And now I got the feeling that capitalization in english is completely arbitrary.

Edit: And I totally forgot The Best Night Ever. How could I forget that one?

raudorn wrote:Yowzers! That's really well done. I just wish I'd understand how it fits into the main canon. Not that it needs to, it can and does stand on its own.

It's set at about the time that Luna first rose up, just before she became Nightmare Moon. So about 1000 years before the series.

Also, has anyone seen the SDCC animatics? Things are looking pretty good for season 4, and the following are some super-crazy spoilers:

Spoiler:

Scootaloo/CMC episode about Scoot not being able to fly (presumably with a lesson to not focus too hard on your failings)Apple family song featuring Pinkie - and it looks like they're going on a journey and accepting Pinkie as a member of the family?Mane 6 and Spike become ... Power Rangers? Sailor Senshi? Justice League? In Manehattan!

I can't stop listening to the song. I wonder if this is what it was like for the people who listened to "Smile, Smile, Smile" back when it was leaked. Except we have a much, much longer wait than they did. (Season premier November 23, song in episode... well, it's listed in the corner of the screen.)

cephalopod9 wrote:Only on Xkcd can you start a topic involving Hitler and people spend the better part of half a dozen pages arguing about the quality of Operating Systems.

Steve the Pocket wrote:I can't stop listening to the song. I wonder if this is what it was like for the people who listened to "Smile, Smile, Smile" back when it was leaked. Except we have a much, much longer wait than they did. (Season premier November 23, song in episode... well, it's listed in the corner of the screen.)

I hadn't made that connection! Thanks, genius I tell you. Genius.

As for Children of the Night, I'm good friends with "Lionheart" and got to see it in production last year when I stopped by for a visit. He's quite proud of it, and took some time to explain how he was doing stuff that the show's animators were not doing, because it can't normally be done (or at least done efficiently - I honestly forget which) in Flash. The "it" had to do with, if I recall correctly, the rotation of the Flash puppets, particularly when they for example go from facing viewer's left to viewer's right (as Luna does at least once). There was also a jump/float from the 2nd story window of the orphanage that had a similar challenge.

[VaguelyRelevantRemark]How's your story going, Vaniver? I just reread it and can't wait for the next update.[/VaguelyRelevantRemark]

[ActualContent]Are PonyGames a thing? I only played the story of the blanks. I enjoyed it, even though I normally don't care much for horror games. There are other games out there too, but none of them seem to be finished.[/ActualContent]

Yeah, I heard the old version a while ago and loved it.Not sure which version I prefer. After episode 6, I haven't much cared for any FiW, except for Gypsy Bard. So the old version is missing that, but this one has songs I don't like. Oh well.

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

raudorn wrote:How's your story going, Vaniver? I just reread it and can't wait for the next update.

So, editing it is a giant pain. I've got a lot written that I haven't posted because it's out of order, and getting the next thing to go up to the point where I want it takes way longer than the first draft. The main delays come from the beta readers I have, who will point out some serious flaw, which I'll then sit on for a month or so until I figure out a way around it or decide it's better to just keep it in. (I'm pretty busy in my regular life, so I don't have all that much time to sit down and think my way through an obstacle; generally I push it to my subconscious and slowly mull it over.)

Also, I rarely check xkcd anymore- if you send me a private message, that'll turn into an email and so I'll notice it, or you can message me over at fimfiction. (In particular, if you want to see more of the story, become a beta reader! Send me a message somehow, and that goes for anyone else interested as well.)

After all the havoc in episode 1, I thought for sure the mane 6 would need at least two deus ex machinas to solve everything. But the ending (1) made sense, (2) developed Twilight's new relationship with her friends, and (3) raised the stakes for future encounters since they can no longer use the Elements.

I have to admit, I actually forgot about the premiere, despite still participating in the fandom. Anyway, I enjoyed the first two-parter. Not perfect, but decent enough and on par with the previous seasons. I think the 'issue' with

Spoiler:

Applejack sending Twilight back to town and Twilight repeatedly proclaiming they will never grow apart

was a bit forced, but at least these topics were floating around ever since the S3 finale. So I guess we can now joss all those Epileptic Trees early on. What a shame.

How so? Cuz that's one part of this show that I'm REEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLY into.

Spoiler:

The sudden switches between 100% good/evil is what bothers me. They didn't give any reason for her becoming Nightmare Moon, she just did. The flashbacks in this episode didn't add anything to the characterisation in the season 1 premiere and her character just feels really underdeveloped. Which is annoying, because she is portrayed as being Celestia's equal all the time, yet with the exception of the Nightmare Night episode (which was awesome) she has been almost completely absent from the show.

I think there is still a lot of room to show more backstory. I see no reason to assume that the co-rule of the princess before Luna's turning lasted only a few decades. It's quite possible that they ruled for hundreds/thousands years before that and Luna's fall only appeared sudden on that kind of timescale. Who knows, maybe there were a hundred years of resentment, decades of broken bonds and years of silent conflict before it all ended in a few minutes of NMM.

Clearly, because you have great taste and can appreciate a good show when you see it. I mean, it's not like the fandom is a swirling vortex, that sucks you in and traps you forever. Not at all.

If you decide to give up the struggle against the vortex, take a medium of your choosing and roll with it. There's pony music, videos, games, fanfics, tabletop RPGs, drinking games, online bars, forums, chats, conventions, cosplay and everything else under sun.

A fun little episode, and I like the idea that the castle was originally built by Celestia and Luna as something like their own personal playground / place to play practical jokes on each other. The reveal of the organ player was pretty obvious - basically, which character's missing? Jokes were all pretty good. My main problem - "Let's write a diary about our experiences!" "Yeah, and we'll keep it just as up-to-date as those letters we wrote Princess Celestia!"

One Bad Apple - catchy song, nice twist on the blank flank concept and a good look at bullyingMagic Duel - a Great and Powerful episodeWonderbolts Academy - MLP meets Top GunApple Family Reunion - another catchy song, some call-backs, a very small reference to AJ's parentsKeep Calm and Flutter On - not a fantastic episode, but worth it for the return of Discord (which feeds into S4)Magical Mystery Cure - caused by another Hasbro directive, rushed but with some really great moments

EDIT: And on the topic of songs, I've finally got a hold of the season 3 songs for my iPod, and between those and a re-watching of Magical Mystery Cure, I have definitely come to appreciate its qualities more. I still think it's a terribly rushed episode, but the half that deals with an actual friendship problem really covers one of the biggest lessons learned in the series and in a fantastic fashion.

I watch the show on a livestream (usually on BronyState.net) because I don't get the Hub network. Ahead of the show, the streamers usually run other clips and stuff, and this week they showed an episode of one of the earlier generations (the one with the human kid and sea ponies in it). Comparing that dreck to the writing, music, and art/animation of FiM should be all you need in order to figure out why this generation is good enough for everyone.

Wrong. IMO it's the best Fluttershy episode, with only one real flaw (the fact that Celestia flat out tells us how the episode is going to play out in the first five minutes). Also it's the result of a 15 year old boy's episode concept and turned out great, so you gotta give them credit for that.

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

Alright, five episodes in, I can say I'm satisfied with the new season so far. It might be more of the same as far as format goes, but they managed to pick up on themes introduced, and not yet concluded, in the previous seasons. For example:

Discord is not quite best-buddy with the ponies, but much more approachable than before his "reformation".

Yes, RD really likes Daring Do.

Princesses have some actual stuff to do? Who would have thought?

So close, CMC. So close. I say one more episode where all three are demure about the cutie mark business and they are finally ready.

Castle Mane-ia? Yes, sure, MLP is a kids show. I get it now. A show for anyone who was a kid at some point.

The new animations are alright, if sometimes overdrawn (or pony faces are just really expressive).